Chapter 180: A Clash of Titans
The brief distance Pain had created meant nothing. In the blink of an eye, Uchiha Ren closed the gap once more, his speed a testament to his formidable prowess. The Meteor Blade trailed behind him, scraping against the stone floor with a shower of sparks.
Ren's left hand flashed through a series of hand seals with blinding speed. A cacophony of chirping filled the air as blue-white lightning chakra coalesced in his palm. He brought the crackling energy to his right shoulder and, with a forceful thrust, unleashed it. **"Lightning Hound!"** The bolt of lightning took the shape of a ferocious canine, snarling as it lunged directly for Pain's heart.
But Ren wasn't finished. The moment the hound was released, he used its brilliant light as a diversion. He pushed off the ground, the Meteor Blade now held in a two-handed grip, and followed his jutsu in a devastating, horizontal slash aimed at Pain's torso.
A flicker of acknowledgment, the first hint of true reaction, showed in Pain's Rinnegan eyes. **"Shinra Tensei."**
The words were calm, absolute. The world seemed to compress and then violently expand. The lightning hound vanished, dispersed into harmless sparks before it could even get close. Then, the full, crushing force of the repulsion wave hit Ren.
He had expected it, but the sheer, raw power was still staggering. It was like being struck by a mountain. There was no blocking it, only weathering the storm. Crossing his arms in front of his body, Ren was hurled backward like a leaf in a hurricane, his feet carving grooves into the stone as he was pushed back.
Pain did not waste the opening. As Ren flew through the air, struggling to regain control, Pain's arm snapped forward. An iron rod became a black streak, aimed with lethal precision at Ren's exposed center of mass.
But Uchiha Ren was not so easily cornered. Even mid-air, his composure didn't break. Forgoing his sword, his hands became a blur, forming a single seal. He twisted his body, facing the incoming projectile.
**"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"**
This was no ordinary C-rank jutsu. The fireball that erupted from Ren's mouth was a miniature sun, a concentrated orb of incinerating heat. The iron rod flew into its heart and was instantly vaporized into nothingness. The fireball, however, did not dissipate. It continued its path, swelling in size, threatening to engulf Pain entirely.
For the first time, a flicker of genuine surprise crossed Pain's normally impassive features. *To cast a jutsu of that magnitude immediately after withstanding Shinra Tensei… his chakra control is monstrous.*
There was no time for evasion. Pain's hand shot out toward the ground. **"Banshō Ten'in."**
The very floor between them tore apart. A massive slab of rock and earth, five meters wide and ten meters tall, was ripped from its foundations and pulled upward, forming a solid barrier just as the inferno crashed against it. The stone glowed red-hot, but it held.
Behind the makeshift wall, Pain allowed himself a fraction of a second to reassess. This opponent was far more dangerous than anticipated. His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp *crack*. A web of fractures spread across the superheated rock. Then, with a thunderous roar, the entire slab exploded inward, pulverized into a cloud of dust and debris.
Pain's Rinnegan pierced through the obscuring cloud, his guard higher than ever. He knew the attack was not over.
A high-pitched whine cut through the air. From within the dust, a blinding sphere of rotating chakra shot forth. It was not fire or lightning, but a raging vortex of wind, compressed into the shape of a giant shuriken. The **Wind Release: Rasenshuriken**. And from it, Pain felt a palpable threat of annihilation. A single thought flashed through his mind: *A direct hit is fatal.*
It was too fast, too close to dodge. But the cooldown for his ultimate defense had just elapsed.
**"Shinra Tensei!"**
The repulsive force field erupted from his body once more, meeting the Rasenshuriken head-on. The two supreme forces clashed in a silent, violent struggle for a split second before the shuriken was violently repelled, destabilizing and exploding harmlessly against the cavern ceiling far above, showering the area with stone fragments.
The strain of using the technique in such rapid succession was evident, but Pain had survived. As the debris settled, he saw another projectile—a standard, physical shuriken—spinning towards him. A pathetic follow-up. With a contemptuous flick of his wrist, he batted it aside with his black receiver rod.
His lips parted to deliver a pronouncement of judgment.
But the shuriken had been a marker.
In the space where the shuriken had been, the air distorted. Uchiha Ren materialized out of nothingness, having teleported using the Flying Thunder God Technique. He was already in motion, his right hand thrust forward, a spiraling sphere of blue chakra roaring to life—the Rasengan.
Pain's Rinnegan eyes widened in genuine shock. *Nani?!*
There was no time for another Shinra Tensei. No time to react. The smirk on Ren's face was the last thing Pain saw before the devastating sphere of chakra was slammed point-blank into his chest.
The impact was not loud, but it was profound. A shockwave of pure, concussive force erupted through Pain's body, hurling him backward like a broken doll to crash against the far wall of the chamber in a cloud of dust and shattered stone.
Silence descended, broken only by the hum of Ren's fading chakra.
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